Well, the season has started. Actually, it started a while ago. Washington State recorded the most fires in state history for the month of April with over 225. The ten-year average for the month of April is 53. Yikes. So, I sit here in our buggy cruising through the Blue Mountains of eastern Washington just wondering how this season will go for the crew. I’ve got a hunch we’ll be busy, and I pray that everyone stays safe. Luckily, our first fire of the season wasn’t too crazy. Here’s the story and some thoughts that come along with it:
So, today was our holiday. We weren’t scheduled to work on Memorial Day so I decided what better way to celebrate than to get some training in, lift some weights, go for a run, and do a little hiking/sight seeing. So I stayed up at the guard station and did all of the above. In all honesty, I whooped my own ass that day. My body oughta be dog tired and functioning at a sub-par level if we get called, nice. Then, while I was doing my sight seeing, I got the call. First fire of the season! So we hopped in the truck and headed back down to the guard station and geared up. We had a 4-hour drive ahead of us, but we stopped about an hour out from the fire to bed down for the night. We camped right next to the highway, which got busier and louder as the night went on. We got very little sleep, also nice. Early the next morning, we got up and made our way to the fire, which ended up being in the same drainage as a fire we had only 9 months ago. Though this fire was much smaller and less active, it was still in some pretty gnarly terrain. We were hiking on slopes <30° for sure, steeper in some parts. And almost always on loose or rocky footing.
By the end of the day we had the whole fire contained, mopped, and we did our final grid at 18:00. This fire was dead.
We then got booted from that fire and grabbed dinner just across the river in Lewiston, Idaho. Which was a huge coincidence to me because the NAIA College World Series was being played there, and was also being streamed on the TVs in the restaurant we were in. Why is this a coincidence to me? One of my old friends was playing in that tournament, not only that, but his team was the one on the TV. Their game started streaming shortly after we sat down to eat. It was so cool. And kind of surreal. I grew up with this guy when we were like 6 or 7, maybe a little older. Then he moved away to Arkansas and we kinda lost touch. But we both loved and played baseball. Both competed collegiately in the sport. Both wound up in a World Series. Both wound up in Lewiston, Idaho at this same moment in time. One for the game of baseball, one because he’s chasing fires. It’s just wild to me. It really got me thinking. And I don’t know exactly how to word it, but I almost have a nostalgia for those days with the baseball team. I still have a team, it’s just different. There’s more at stake and the mission is completely different. Regardless, I started wondering if I’ve made the right choices in my life so far. Did I ever really fall out of love with baseball? Did I “give up” too soon? Should I have stuck with the game? Tried to play out my last two years? Was moving to a new state and doing something completely different the right move? Who knows. However, I do know that the decisions I made were driven by a yearning for newness. And my mind is at peace knowing that I got that. It’s easier to lay down at night and sleep with the confidence that those decisions I made years ago brought some of my most cherished memories, lessons, and friendships. The lessons are invaluable. Knowledge only attained through first-hand experience. Ultimately, I think that there really wasn’t a better way to go about my life at that time. Sure, some things were lost or sacrificed; relationships, time spent with family, and memories made with friends back home- wherever that is now. Looking back, I still don’t think that I would do anything differently. I just hope to God that more people can say the same. Follow your heart, listen to your gut. Find something that makes the ticker tick. And if you haven’t found it, well, keep looking. I’ll be damned if there isn’t something out there that will do it for anyone. Just gotta find it. And while you’re searching, try to enjoy that process as much as possible. There’s much to be learnt. Whether it’s baseball, ranching, or chasin’ wildfires, life’s got lessons to teach ya if you pay attention and don’t sleep through the course.
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